Comments: We stopped in Cozumel on a cruise Feb. 13th, 2004. The weather
was absolutely terrible - rain, rain and more rain. So much so we almost
cancelled the dune buggy tour - but instead decided to do it. It was the very
best shore excurshion not only on this cruise, but every cruise I have taken.
The rain actually added adventure to the trip. We took the buggy across town
and made a left turn, that's when the fun began. It was this little, rough,
windy road that lead us off into the jungle. Sand burms, rocks, mud puddles -
the road was very rough. Bouncing all around and seeing beautiful sights -
from glimpses of the ocean to wonderful trees and plants - even to a soldier
in drab army fatigues holding a rifle. The ride is a long one, which surprised
me. I figured a short ride and spend the rest of the time on the beach. Nope -
the dune buggy ride is what makes this tour. The mayan ruins were a cool sight
as well. Our tour guides kept us loaded up with cerveza (beer) which for me
was a nice added touch. The food was also good, a true authentic mexican lunch
- not like a fancy restaurant - but like the natives of this country eat. Our
guide briefly explained his heritage at the ruins. I totally enjoyed this
adventure - one word of caution though - this tour is not for the meek. If you
are not the Indiana Jones adventurous type you probably will not like this
tour. For example - we saw many people in jeeps and subaru's. Many got stuck.
Many looked they were not enjoying it. The dune buggy's had no problem
tackling the terain. But it is a very rough and bumpy ride. I loved it and
strongly recommend it to anyone who is truly adventurous!

Comments: We just returned from Cozumel and the dune buggy tour was
awesome. We were picked up right at our hotel at 10:00 and didn't return
until 5:00. Omar was a great guide. He provided us with great snorkeling,
lunch, and stops along the way to point out the wildlife.

My husband is not one to sit on the beach and soak up the sun. This tour
catered to his sense of adventure and activity level. We highly recommend
this trip to anyone visiting the island.

Comments: We just got back from Cozumel, and would like to share our
experience with (Tarzan) Dune Buggy Tours. GREAT! We caught a taxi
from the pier when our ship docked. It was $6.00 total for the six of us
to get to Dune Buggy Tours. We arrived early and checked in, then went
shopping for an hour, (due to the time difference). There were many
shops, just 1/2 block away (including Carlos & Charley's). We were
greeted by Fillippe and Antonio. Fillippee began to show his sense of
humor from the start. Anyone have to go to the banio (bathroom), cause
we have lots of beer and drinks. Yes, it is legal to drink and drive in
Mexico! We were given our scuba geer, and loaded up in the buggys.

We drove through town, and what an experience that was. The roads are
paved, but narrow, and filled with Taxi's. We drove for about 30
minutes, taking in the true Cozumel culture. It definately made my 15
year old daughter realize how lucky she truly was. The street vendors
are on every corner.
We reached a curve in the road and it was off-road time. The road turned
into dirt, and rocks! How fun to go 30 mph on unpaved trail. We
hit the curves, turns, and dips holding on to the frame of the buggy. My
son learned to car-surf, standing up in the back of the buggy, holding on for
dear life, and ducking with each branch.

After about another hour, we came to a small overgrown stretch of road, and
heard the woman in the buggy in front of us scream. We cautiously
proceeded, to find Antonio hiding in the bushes with a stick (which resembled
a cobra snake). Everyone screamed, then laughed. We stopped at a
very rustic place for drinks. Rustic is an understatement. It was
a two room concrete block building with one room being a make-shift kitchen,
and one a bathroom. The door was falling off the hinges, and to every
woman's horror there was no toilet seat! After a few Mexican beers, you
learn to squat! The gentleman who greeted us, was very cool, cutting
coconuts with a machetti and offering us a taste of coconut juice.

We loaded back up in the buggys to the ruins. We had to climb up on to
the ruins, but it was an awsome view of the clear blue ocean. After a
brief history of the castle, and the Myian history, it was back on the road.
It had rained earlier that morning, so we had a blast hitting a few creeks
with water. Definetly expect to get dirty & muddy, as the buggies
have drain holes in the floorboards.

We got to a gourgeous beach, and prepared to scuba dive. The reef was
about 40 yards out. Unfortunately, my 15 year old daughter got spooked
after seeing her first two fish swim underneath her, and announced "I
don't thinks so!" We waved goodbye to the rest of the group (about
8 total people) and returned to the shore to play in the 3 foot waves.
Upon return, my sons (22 & 16) raved about the reef, stingrays and fish.
Underwater disposable camera captured what we missed.

Lunch according to Fillippe was Iguana (tastes like chicken). His sense
of humor with my apprehensive daughter was funny. After swearing it
really was chicken, we ate lunch. Best chicken ever. Also had
chips, guacmoli, tomatoe salsa, lettuce, etc. Pepsi, bottled waterand
more Mexican beer.

We loaded up and headed home about 4pm. I can't say enough about the
beauty of the sites. If you want an unconventional tour it is definetly
the way to go. Many of our ship friends took the jeep tours, and the
groups were so big, they felt commercialized. Not us, we had a great
time. Don't forget the sunscreen.

Comments: My wife and I have finally gotten our house and children back in
order after returning from a delayed honeymoon in Cozumel. I now have time to
write my reviews and comments about our stay starting with Dune Buggy Tours.

Dune Buggy Tours was a very high point on our 6 day stay on the
island. This tour was booked on-line after reading the comments from other
people. All that I can "AWESOME ".
Driving the dune buggies was a blast and the buggies in the pictures are the
ones we used. That is except for George's Lil Hummer which he kept for
himself. By the way if you take the tour get George to show you how to open a
soda bottle in his own special way (no bottle opener needed). The grilled
chicken was excellent and the soda's were cold as was the beer.

I would recommmend this tour for the adventerous at heart but stay at
home if you think this is a Sunday drive .The road is an unimproved trail at
best and very bumpy. The dune buggies are the only way to go as our party had
to push a Geo Tracker out of a sand pit in the middle of the road that it had
become stuck in. George was a wonderful guide and a really nice person.

My wife and I are already planning to return with our whole family in a
couple of years and Dune Buggy Tours is on our list of things to do.

Also a previously mentioned by a couple of other people we saw
several other tours of jeeps and 4 wheelers and the groups were large and the
people looked bored.

No one in our group complained of being dirty or dusty in the back of the
dune buggys, including me. I had no problems at all.

I also found the service and personal attention to be top-notch. And as for
there being just one jeep in your tour, you must have been very lucky and
scheduled your tour on just the right day. We usually see 15 or so of them
heading over to the eastside on the trans-island road.

The dune buggys really are lots of fun and a totally different experience than
the jeeps. I haven't done the jeep tour so I can't comment on which is better,
but we really did enjoy the jungle dune buggy tour quite a bit.

Comments: My husband and I just returned from a week in Cozumel. We
took the Dune Buggy Tour on Monday, the 14th of July. We had a blast on
the tour. It was as fun as we expected it would be. The roads were
quite rough, so expect a bumpy ride... it just made it more fun for us.
George, our tour guide, was funny and very knowledgeable. He's also a
great cook... the chicken was the best we'd had the whole week. The
other side of the island was absolutely beautiful and it was fantastic to tour
it this way. (Thanks George!)

Don't set your expectations so high that you can't enjoy the sun, the shade,
the awesome sites and the challenging drive... a nice change from diving and
shopping... a real adventure!

Comments: I can't say enough about Filipe and the Dune Buggy tour we went
on. Although there were only three buggies total, we had a great time. The
snorkelling was fantastic, and the place we stopped at was amazing. There was
no one else around, except for some other "weaker" tours!

Bring a hat, towel, sun-screen, and camera! The drive is just fun, fun, fun!
The buggies are a blast to drive and the jungle you drive through is very
cool. The tour is well worth the money, since you get to drive your own buggy
and it lasts all day. The lunch is spectacular (yet, very simple. I think it
was Iguana)!

Comments: The tour was great. George of the Jungle is quite the character.
We were the only ones on the tour that day and had alot of fun. We passed
several of the Jeep tours that were very crowded. The food was also good and
the beers very cold.

Comments: We just returned from our cruise that had a stop in
cozumel. We had a group of 14 (ranging in age from 13 to 55 ) and
decided ahead of time to do the dune buggy tour. I have three words to
describe it....horrible, horrible, horrible!! When you think of dune
buggys, you think of driving in the dunes. This trail we were on (16
miles there and back) was a hard surface, filled with huge potholes and
very large stones. There were a few stretches that were sand which made
the ride a bit softer, but most was very uncomfortable.
We drove straight to the beach, with the exception of stopping twice to get a
drink from the cooler. When we got there, not only did I have a major
headache, but the beach was a disgusting mess...seaweed all over, not like the
pictures show. We couldn't snorkle because the water was too
choppy, but by the looks of that beach, I don't think it's possible that
anyone ever snorkles there.
The tour guide made homemade guacamole there, but the rest of the food
was already cooked and wrapped and brought with, they did not cook it there as
what was stated. I complained to our tour guide Philipe, about this tour
not being what we expected, and his reply was..This is a Tarzan Tour, not a
Barbie Tour!! We headed back to our buggy's for the ride back, stopping
at a small myan ruin, and there was a great cheer from all 14 of us when we
finally hit a solid ashphalt surface again. We paid alot of money for
this experience, and I'm hoping no one else does!
By the way, the ATV tour and the Jeep Tour all use the same trail, so I would
advise AGAINST all 3.

Comments: My family of four (ages 46,47,16 and 19) wanted to go on the dune
buggy tour as a shore excursion from our cruise ship, the Carnival Conquest.
It looked like we were going to be getting into Cozumel too late to make the
10:30 tour time, so Tarzan Tours accomodated us by allowing us to go at 12:00
instead. We arrived at 11:15 and we were able to start the tour
early - 11:30. They promised to have us back in time to get back on
board by 5:30, and they did! Very accomodating! We
really appreciated this type of personalized service. You don't get that
when you book a tour from your ship with a hundred other people.

We started out driving these really cool dune buggies through town and then
out into the wilderness. The road we took was very rough - perfect for
this type of vehicle! It was a blast! We saw 2 ruins along the way
and our guide gave us a brief education on their origin. Mid way through
the trip we stopped for lunch and to enjoy the beach for a while. The
weather was windy, so the sea was too rough for snorkeling. It didn't
matter, though, as we jumped waves and swam while our guides prepared lunch
for us. Lunch was great as we ate it sitting beneath a beautiful palm
tree while the ocean surf created a great view. The barbecue was really
good, by the way!

Driving back was just as much fun and we ended the tour by all agreeing that
this was by far the best shore trip we had on the cruise. Thanks to
Tarzan tours for personalizing our trip and giving us a great memory!

Comments: This ia an awsome tour! We booked with Eagle Ray Divers for this
tour. George "of the jungle" picked us four up in a buggy at our
hotel. We had a blast! George kept us laughing the whole way. The lunch, by
far was the best we had all week. The homemade guacomole was wonderful. The
snorkel part was very interesting, and a long swim, but definately worth it.
We loved being able to drive the buggys by ourselves. Thanks to George and the
others. We will do it again on our next trip there. Make sure you put this in
your plans if you are coming to Cozumel and want to see the other part of the
island. It's very beautiful.
P.S. The others we passed in the jeep tour looked bored, and one family that
stayed at our hotel said that they wished they had went with us instead of the
jeep tour they booked!!
Thanks

Comments: WE were disapointed in the tour. We were the only people for the
tour that day and what could have been a "private" tour turned in to
no tour. Our guide didn't have much to say except at the one ruin we went to.
We traveled down a very bumpy road for 1 1/2 hours. Stopped at a friends
house in the jungle and then on to the beach. stayed at the beach for about an
hour and then headed back for another long trip down the bumpy road. I
expected a TOUR of the island with island information. Instead we just road
around,saw a beach and headed back. Tour did not last all day, about 10:30 -
2. Just as well.

Comments: What a great tour. George is the best. He loves to
show you around and is just amazing. THis ride was suprisingly
independant. You actually drive your own VW baja bug the way you want.
No back seat workers watching you're every move. They let you drive all
you want. Through town down the highway, and up a jungle road we went.
say the simple words, "quiero una cerveza para mi cabeza" and George
will give you a great surprise. Take the tour, spend the money, you WILL
NOT regret it. See ya.

Comments: My best friend and I were vacationing in Cozumel earlier this
month, and had the pleasure of going on a Tarzan Tours day trip. This
was by far the highlight of our vacation, what an adventure!
Unfortunately, due to wave conditions we were not able to do the snorkeling
portion...but regardless, this was still 100% worth going on. Our tour
guide George "of the jungle" was the absolute best. He was
very informative redarding the island, we learned many things talking with
him. He was also quite a comedian, making us laugh constantly. The
lunch we enjoyed was by far the best we had while visiting Cozumel. It
was wonderful! We will without a doubt be going on this tour again when
we come back to Cozumel. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone, you won't be
disappointed.

We took the dune buggy tour (eight of us) and it was the best day of our
whole vacation. We laughed all day. The guides were very helpful
and friendly, the food was delicious and the beaches were beautiful. Snorkeling
was the best! I highly recommend it.

Comments: I read all I could about Tarzan Tours, and every word is true. No
surprises. Reservations via internet/e-mail, deposit, final payment all went
as specified on the web-site. The dune buggies are great! Mine was a bit
"rough", but it only added to the experience. Omar was our guide,
and he takes his job very seriously. If you show him you can drive and act
responsibly, he takes you to "special" places. The day we went,
Tarzan had a cancellation, so there were only 2 dune buggies: Omar, and us. We
pulled over a few times to let caravans of Jeeps and ATVs pass. What a bunch
of bored, dusty people they were. Dune buggies, in a small group is way more
fun. There's not alot of padding on the seats, so take it easy on the
rocks. We were in Cozumel as port of call on a cruise. Omar planned a tour to
get us back in time for cocktails with the Captain. You may be able to get a
cheaper "package" deal, but you will not have as enjoyable a time.
Tarzan Tours is a unique experien
ce, well worth the expense.

Comments: Having read the excellant reviews regarding the Tarzan Tour, our
group of eight decided to sign up. We took the tour on Monday August 19.
It turned out to be the highlight of our trip. Our group consisted of
family members ranging in age from 69 to 4 years old, and everyone had an
absolute blast.
We were picked up at the Allegro by our two tour guides in their very fun dune
buggies. After meeting up with another couple at the Tarzan Tour office
in San Miguel, our caravan of four buggies took off for the north side of the
island. We took the dirt and sand road leading off the northeast corner
of the paved ring road around the island. Driving that road was an
absolute blast.
Once we got to the north end of the island, our guides took us out to a reef
about 100 yards from the shore. The guides had thought of bringing life
vests, so our 8 year old could come with us and experience the beautiful
corals and fish. After we got out of the water we were treated to a
wonderful, simple lunch of rice, pickled onions and grilled chicken.
Maybe we were starved from the long swim, but that was the best meal we had in
Cozumel.
On our way back we stopped at a few ruins, interesting but nothing like what
they have on the mainland, and went by the very primitive (more primitive than
the ruins) Mexican army outpost, where we shared some of our extra soft drinks
with the soldiers.
If you have only one opportunity for an activity on Cozumel island, this would
be the one.

Comments: The wife and I just returned from our honeymoon cruise which
included a stop to Cozumel. As everyone else aboard the ship booked
their excursion, we had already booked a jungle jeep tour with Tarzan Tours.
We were a little nervous about booking it over the internet. When we
arrived and began our tour we were quickly at ease after meeting George and
the staff there. The jeep tour was incredible!! George was our
guide and was very funny,laid back and polite. We arrived at the
snorkelling area and really enjoyed it. We were the only people in the
water! The lunch and refreshments were fabulous. After lunch it
was off to the Mayan ruins. Overall the entire trip was awesome!
The jeeps were so much fun to drive. I had never driven a stick shift
vehicle before and after a few quick lessons and some encouragement from
George it was a piece of cake! Out of all of our excursions we went on
throughout our cruise, we agreed that this jeep tour was the best! If we
ever return to Cozumel we will defintiely take it again. I highly
recommend this tour to anyone. To George and the Tarzan staff: Thanks
again for an incredible tour and vacation memory!!!!!

Comments: Just wanted to thank Tarzan Tours and George of the
Jungle for the most fun day we had!! We took the Dune Buggy Tour
and it was awesome. George, you are great. He told us a lot about the
Mayan culture, told great jokes and made an awesome lunch. Along with
that, driving the dune buggy was a blast!! The ruins were
incredible too and my husband loved the snorkeling out to the reef. We
are coming back next year and will take this tour again for sure--and
we are bringing our son with us so he can have just as much fun. Also,
Poncho, you are a sweetie--a little shy but great to have in our
buggy. And George--you singing was right on--you should record a CD :)
You are the best. See you soon. Lisa and Darin

Alex, Everything went smoothly on our trip including the tarzan tour which
was a lot of fun, even got to watch the Federialies pick up many packages of
cocaine which were washing up on shore. Thanks again for your help.

We had a blast on the trip. what a neat adventure. it is confusing
about the time. i dont know if anybody else has that trouble but if
somoehow you could put in your e-mail something about the time
differences and whose time to go by as far as the departure goes. we
showed up 2 hours early. it wasnt the end of the world but a little
frustrating when you were rushing to get there. anyway trip was great
and we had a great guide. we saw turtles and lizards and the mayan
ruins swam in the ocean with no one around. and the dune buggys are a
lot of fun to drive. highly recommended. RYAN

George of the Jungle, We wanted to let you know that we had a wonderful time in
the dunebuggys. It was our highlight during our week in Cozumel! Both of you
tour guides were fun and great. The kids are still telling everyone about your
joke with the stick snake. We also learned alot about the Mayan people at the
ruins. Very amazing people. The food was awesome at the beach. We told everyone
we met on the island about our day and plan on coming back again. Everyone was
sooooo very friendly. Our little guy Curt was amazed with Georges trick with the
hat. He is still trying to blow on his thumb and make his hat come up. Thanks
again for the memories. George, your wife must of had the baby by now.
Congratulations to you both. Thanks, Kevin, Bonnie, Chelsea & Curtis
Johnston

I just returned from Cozumel and we took the Trazan Tours trip
after reading all of your great reviews on travel notes. Everything
was wonderful except for one thing. When we stopped for a break on the
beach and a snorkel, we were told that it was too rough for snorkeling
that day
and we could just leave our snorkel gear in the buggy. After a great
meal we returned to find that all of our gear was stolen. Since there
was no one around except for us we felt fairly safe that the stuff was
OK. Afterward I felt pretty silly for thinking that. The management at
Tarzan
tours was not helpful at all, they basically told us "tough
luck" and we could go spend the night at the police station if we
wanted to report it. The guide told us that this had never ever
happened before. After we returned to our Hotel, the tour guy at the
Hotel said that they do not book Tarzan tours anymore because they
have had similar problems in the past. If anybody does decide to go on
the tour I suggest you keep your belongings within eyesight! Or keep
them with you at all times. I just want to warn people to attempt to
save then the trouble and hassle of losing your snorkel gear mid-way
through your trip.

Have been looking for a way to give special thanks to you guys. We had an
absolute blast on your dune buggy tour. Getting picked up at the Allegro
by Dan in a Dune Buggy was such a nice start. What an entrepeneur! I
had so much fun driving. It's like bumper cars without the
crashes. Everything was first class, and we really felt spoiled. Then
the sunset drive around the island taking us back to the Allegro was a grand
finale to a great day. You guys are the best. The chicken lunch was
mui bueno, and there were certainly enough sodas and beer to
keep us all satisfied. Thanks again.

Just got back 12/11. My husband & I did the Tarzan tour & it
was our favorite thing. There were only 3 people + our guide. We did
snorkel on the east side & we are beginners, however our guide took us out
& had a boogie board with him should we want or need it. The reef we
went to was about 100 yards from shore. It was the shallowest reef we had been
to. We saw lots of fish, Coral & even a sting ray. It was the best
snorkeling we did. I highly recommend it & Omar as a guide.

Just got back today and we did the tarzan tour. The tour starts at 10:30 when
you meet at Islena rentals on calle 7 close to the beach road. We were the only
ones on the tour that day so it was two buggies, ours and the guide buggy. Omar
is the guide and a native of Cozumel. The road/trail is a very bad, bumpy,
rocky, sandy, wet ( it rained alot the night before our tour) fun one! Just
driving the buggy was a blast for me! Stayed in 1st gear for the whole trail.
There were huge puddles that we had to shoot through ( i think Omar was worried
the buggies might stall) as well as some sandy sections. These buggies are
custom built by Dan (owner) and his helpers and are turbocharged. Very
responsive bugs! We stopped along the way when Omar would spot something to show
us (turtles, big hermits, a mayan built canal, etc...). We went as far as the
ruins at Castillo Real which was crawling with military dudes. After
investigating the ruins, we backtracked a short way to our beach where we
planted the umbrella. The beach is awesome and you can see waves breaking out
where the reef is! We snorkeld straight out to the reef. My wife Cara is not a
strong swimmer so she used the boogie board that Omar brought along. About half
way out to the reef she had second thoughts. After a short pause, a little
coaxing and reassuring, we swam out the rest of the way. She wasn't real comfy
that far from shore (prolly 100+ yards or so). The reef was great. Real thick
with gorgonians as well as stonies. Large brain corals and rays. Oh yeah, and
fish too! We spent about a 1/2 hour or so on the reef then back to shore. Cara
was glad she went. I told Omar there was this cool cobalt blue stony that i
wanted to have another look at and after a short break for a sol we went back
out and covered a larger portion of the same reef. Cara sat this one out. I
found more of the cobalt blue stonies and got an up close look. It's ashame you
have to come up for air! The reef on this side is noticably different. Alot more
wave action and swaying of the soft corals. Anyway the reef here is fantastic!!
Oh yeah, on the way back from the ruins we stopped at a spot were Omar likes to
fish. He carries a spool of line with hook and sinker and he snagged a few large
snails from up by the ruins for bait. It wasnt long till Omar had a nice size
trigger on the line and up to shore. It was a grayish looking trigger that he
called someting else i dont remember the name. I thought we might be eating this
for lunch but we didnt. Omar's trigger. Also, the military guys had made it up
to this spot by now and i had a short talk with one. Seems they are patroling
the beach looking for washed up contraband he says. He tells me of smuggler
boats that capsize offshore. I told him we hadnt seen any yet. Back to our
beach...after the second snorkel we had a great lunch of tortillas with rice,
salsa and roasted chicken and Sol. Relaxed on the beach for a bit, played
frisbee for awhile, then packed up and back in the buggies. Stopped at a mayan
built canal that we walked back to and saw this big clawed light blue crab that
clamped onto a stick Omar had. Got back to Islena rental around 5 o'clock. We
liked our buggy so much we rented it for the next three days. more later....